


People Lie, Bones Never Do

by Sarcasticskeleton



Category: Carmilla (Web Series), Hollstein - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, Bones AU, Eventual Smut, F/F, FBI Agent Laura, Fluff and Smut, Scientist Carmilla
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-29
Updated: 2017-02-03
Packaged: 2018-09-13 00:55:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9098446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sarcasticskeleton/pseuds/Sarcasticskeleton
Summary: AU based loosely off the TV show Bones. Carmilla is the best Forensic Anthropologist in the country and she is amazing when it comes to working with bones, but she struggles to relate to the living. Laura Hollis is an agent in the FBI that wants nothing more than to stop all of the corruption and abuse of innocent people, she just needs to be taken a little more seriously first.They just might be the perfect pair to help each other solve cases and solve the problems in their own lives.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first chapter of what will hopefully be an interesting multi-chapter fic. It will have mentions of crimes and talks of skeletal remains but it won't be too dark it will focus more on the science side than the violence, and of course mainly on the characters.

Carmilla took a deep breath as she stepped off the plane, and back onto US soil for the first time in months. 

She held her carry on bag close to her chest as she scanned the airport crowds, looking for her ride. She spots a sign with Dr. Karnstein scrawled messily along the front, and she begins to walk toward it.

She’s within earshot of the driver holding the sign when she stops dead in her tracks and whips around. Ending up face to face with a rather large man in a suit.

“Care to explain why you are following me sir?” She asks in a sickeningly sweet tone.

“I’m going to need to see” as he speaks he reaches over Carmilla towards her bag, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Carmilla rips the hand of herself and throws the man to the ground in one fluid motion. Before she can make another move three more men in suits burst through the crowd. The man on the ground at her feet holds up his hand, “Wait” everyone freezes at his statement. He pulls a badge out of his jacket and shows it to Carmilla, “Airport security ma’am, I need to see inside your bag.”

Carmilla doesn’t move as he stands up and grabs her bag. He roughly tugs it from her grasp, causing the strap to pop open and the contents of the bag to spill out. A dirty looking rag drops to the ground and the human skull it was wrapped around rolls out.

Two of the agents recoil in disgust as the man that took her bag reaches down and picks up the Skull and the cloth surrounding it. He glances up from the skull and over to Carmilla with a freaked out look on his face.

Carmilla smiles, “Boo” she chuckles as the man fumbles the skull before quickly handing it off to another agent.

 

Xxxx

 

“I don’t think you’re fully grasping the severity of your situation here…” The agent says 

“Look I told you, my name is Carmilla Karnstein I’m a forensic anthropologist, I work for the Silas institute and I’ve been identifying remains in Mayan ruins for the last six months, which is where I got that guy.” She points at the skull resting on the table in between them.

“Well I’ve heard you claim this, but you have given me no actual identification to prove this. All I know for sure is you assaulted an officer, and you illegally smuggled human remains into the United States.”

Carmilla groans, “Is that what this is about, look I’m sorry I embarrassed you but in the future you should identify yourself before you assault me.” She smirks, “and if you dropping my skull caused further damage, I might harm a lot more than your ego” She mumbles the last part under her breath.

Before the agent can reply the door swings open and in walks a tiny lady with her head held high and a smirk on her face. She whips a badge out of her blazer, and pulls a book out from behind her back.

“I’m agent Laura Hollis, FBI and I can confirm this woman’s identity. She is an anthropologist who works with us, she also wrote a book see.” Laura flashes a dazzling smile around the room, and hands the book over to the airport agent, back cover facing up where a picture of Carmilla’s face is featured.

“Why are you here?” Carmilla groans

“I was sent here to save you Doc” Laura replies

“Well you sure did get here fast cupcake, and why is this an FBI matter anyway?” Carmilla narrows her eyes, her gaze flickering between the airport security and agent Hollis.

“Wait, you did this” She points at Laura, “You had them detain me so you could pretend to save me didn’t you?” 

Laura tries to fight the blush rising up her neck as she shakes her head in denial. Carmilla turns back to the security guard who has the decency to look ashamed before he steps toward Carmilla and hands her back her bag. “You’re free to go with her Dr. Karnstein, and also I’m a big fan, great story.” He gestures to the book in his other hand and smiles sheepishly before turning away.

Carmilla turns to agent Hollis with a glare, “Whatever the FBI wants from me, the answer is no. No matter how cute the new agent is they tried to bribe me with.”

“No bribe, just here to give you a ride home. Maybe make a stop along the way” She mumbles the second half of her reply as she gestures for Carmilla to follow her out of the room

 

XXXX

 

“No. I’m not working with the FBI Mattie, I don’t care what they have to say.” Carmilla said as soon as Mattie walks into her office. 

“Dr. Karnstein, this isn’t a request. It is a part of your job, we are funded mainly by the government so we have to play nice, show them why we deserve the funding we get.” Mattie replies calmly, as if they’ve had this argument multiple times.

“Get someone else to do it then, I’m not the only forensic anthropologist in the world.”

“No, but you’re the best and the only one in the area.” 

“I tried working with them before, and they didn’t listen to me until it was too late. Why should I try again?”

“You are working with a new agent now, she has an impeccable track record.”

Carmilla scoffed, “The shortcake from the airport, we’ll see about that.” Mattie gave her a tight-lipped smile and a nod before walking out of her office.

 

XXXX

 

“So where are we going?” Carmilla asks as she hops into the passenger seat of the black SUV that agent Hollis pulled up in.

“Out to a crime scene in the woods about thirty minutes away from here. A body was found on the bank of a small river by a group of teenagers late last night.” 

Carmilla nods, but doesn’t say anything in response. Laura turns her attention to the road and they spend the drive in silence. 

When they arrived to the crime scene Laura hopped out of the car and confidently strode over to the officer in charge, “What do we got?” She asks as she pulls out a pen and a small notebook. 

“Couple of kids mucking around in the woods stumbled upon some remains around 11 last night. They called it in after they ran away so we came out here with cadaver dogs this morning and located this guy.” The officer gestures over his shoulder, “Must have been here for awhile there’s not much left, don’t know how you guys are going to figure out who they were.”

Laura follows his line of sight; it definitely looked like a human skull to her, but that’s about as far as she could discern.

Carmilla brushed past them both, causing Laura to take her attention of the body and place it onto the doctor instead. She watched as Carmilla approached the remains, standing above them for a minute as if she was assessing her next move.

Carmilla looked down at the bones, cataloging and studying the pieces she could easily discern from her position. After a moment she bends down to get a closer look at what agent Hollis assumes is a leg bone based on its position but she’s honestly not really sure.

“So should we pack these up and send them to your lab Doc so we can learn something from them?” Laura calls out after a few moments of silence in which Carmilla had just been observing the bones. 

“We have a male, mid to late twenties, between 5’6 and 5’9 with a muscular build, and indicators of repetitive strain on his back and shoulders. Cause and approximate time of death aren’t clear but we can take a closer look once you ship the remains and samples of the surrounding soil to the lab.” Carmilla turns to Laura to confirm the agent has heard her, and then heads back to the car.

Laura stares dumbfounded at the retreating form of Carmilla, the slamming sound of her car door jerks her out of it and she turns to the local officer. “Well you heard the lady, lets have the techs bag up the scene and send it to the Silas lab” The officer nodded in understanding and Laura flashed him a smile before following the path Carmilla took back to her SUV.

 

Xxxx

 

Once the bones arrive at Silas Carmilla gathers her team; Dr. Lafontaine the bug and slime specialist, they had multiple doctorates in entomology, geology, and chemistry. Lola Perry the artist who specialized in facial reconstruction, JP the graduate student, and Dr. Matska Belmonde the medical examiner from New York who was technically her boss.

“Laf the FBI techs dropped off some soil samples and the insect activity present at the scene. I need time of death and anything else you can tell me.” Lafontaine nodded, more than excited to get to their lab and take a look. 

“JP once Laf has collected any samples they may need I want you to clean and process the bones.”

“Will do Dr. Karnstein” JP nods and scurries after Lafontaine.

“And Perry the skull is not intact, I’m going to work on piecing it together and then I’ll hand it off to you if you can get us a sketch of what this man looked like we can hopefully identify him and finish this case quickly.”

“Whatever you say sweetie, just try not to spend too much time working tonight you just got off a plane you need to get some rest.” 

Carmilla nods and makes her way over to her office. She places her stuff on her desk and goes to sit down when Mattie walks in.

“Carmilla, I know you don’t want to be working with the FBI again but you should give Hollis a chance. I worked with her when I was in New York, she’s one of the good guys.” 

“I don’t work well with the living Mattie, you know that. You may technically be my boss but this is my lab and I wont let anyone ruin the integrity of it, even if they’re cute. I’ll give Agent Hollis what she asks for, if she listens to me we might even solve this case, but after that I’m done.”

“Just give her a chance, I know me coming in here, being given a title above you upset you but they brought me in for a reason. You may be good at the science side of this, but handling the politics behind a place like this takes a special set of skills.” She turns and walks out of Carmilla’s office with a smug smile, tossing a wink at Agent Hollis who had just entered the lab.

Laura ignored Dr. Belmonde’s odd behaviour; she’s worked with her enough to know to just let it go. She walks into Dr. Karnstein’s office, knocking on the doorframe to alert the other woman to her presence. 

“We don’t have an ID on your victim yet, the remains just arrived.” Carmilla spoke up when she noticed Agent Hollis walking into her office

“Oh I know, I just thought I’d swing by and make sure you got everything you needed. There’s not really much I can do until we have a name so..” Laura glanced around the office as she spoke, not really knowing what to focus on.

“We should have an estimate of what the victim looked like as soon as I put the skull back together, I’ll send you over a picture to run through your missing persons database or whatever, along with any indicators that might help you get a positive ID.” Carmilla sounded almost bored as she addressed agent Hollis.

“That’s amazing, you can get me all of that from a busted up skull?” Agent Hollis’ eyes settled on the doctor with a genuine look of happiness.

“Hopefully” Carmilla flashed a small insincere smile before making her way out of her office and over to the forensic platform where JP was laying out the remains.

The skull was in better shape than she had originally thought, now that it was clean she could see the frontal bone and most of the facial bones were in tact, which would make facial reconstruction easier, but the occipital was in pieces and there were fractured sections of the left parietal and the left temporal. 

“JP I’m going to piece together the skull, I need you to catalog the rest of the bones note any irregularity and leave the report on my desk when you’re done.”

“Yes Dr. Karnstein I’ll..” he was cut off as the alarm started to ring and Agent Hollis froze halfway up the steps to the platform.

Carmilla rolled her eyes before walking over to Agent Hollis and reaching around her to swipe her badge and stop the alarm.

“Oops sorry” Laura smiled, “Could I get one of those badge things, it might make things easier if were going to be working together.”

“Just one case cupcake” Carmilla replied before turning back to the remains.

“So how exactly do you do this…bone thingy anyway” Laura asked 

“Usually in silence. How about I just call you when we have something for you” Carmilla replied without looking up.

“Oh uh yeah sure that works, Sorry didn’t mean to intrude.” Agent Hollis looked over at Dr. Karnstein for another second before realizing she wasn’t getting a response so she turned and walked away.

 

Xxxxx

 

Two hours later Carmilla walked into Perry’s office with the fully reconstructed skull. 

“Hey Perry I’ve got the skull ready for you. Let me know when you’re done so I can get the information and picture over to Agent Hollis.”

“Sure thing sweetie, but you might want to try being a little nicer this time” Perry gave her a knowing look, and Carmilla just shrugged.

“JP told Laf, and Laf told me about your dismissal of Hollis earlier, you need to give her a chance before you just write her off.”

“It’s just one case Per and then I won’t have to see her again, its not worth the effort.”

“Just think about it, okay sweetie” 

 

xxxxx

 

Carmilla’s office phone began ringing but she choose to ignore it, she hadn’t been able to make any progress on the sequel to her book in months and she was in the middle of a writing session, having been struck by inspiration early that morning.

Her phone starting ringing again and she sighed audibly before saving the file she was working on and picking up the phone with a gruff hello.

“Dr. Karnstein, sorry if I interrupted something but we got a hit on our victim. His name was Theo Straka, I’m about to head over to his apartment I can swing by and pick you up on the way.”

“Um why would you do that?” Carmilla asked genuinely surprised

“I thought you’d like to come along, were partners in this case right?”

“Yeah, I just don’t.. I mean I’ve never had a cop take me out in the field with them. I normally just do the lab work.”

“Well I might need you there, if there is any sciency evidence you know. So I’ll be there in 15 minutes okay?”

“Sure, uh thanks”

“No problem” Laura hung up and Carmilla just stared at the phone for a second before placing it back on her desk.

 

Xxxxx

 

Laura knocked on the door of the apartment and waited, after a few seconds with no response she opened the door with the key she had been given by the landlord.

She pulled her gun from its holster and motioned for Carmilla to stay put as she made her way into the apartment. She did a full sweep making sure the apartment was empty before returning to the entrance where Carmilla was supposed to be waiting.

“Doc, where’d you go?” Laura called out

“In here you should see this, and stop calling me that” Carmilla called out from the living room.

“You were supposed to wait in the hallw….” Laura’s words died in her throat as she rounded the corner and saw what Dr. Karnstein was staring at.

“Oh shit” Laura breathed out as she stared at the wall of pictures in front of her.  
“You can say that again” Carmilla agreed

“This case just took a turn.”

Agent Hollis took out her phone to call in back up and a crime scene unit, the entire time Carmilla just continued to stare at the wall and the pictures of several girls in their early twenties most of them seemed to have been taken from a distance, but the picture in the center was what had caught both of the girls attention. A young blonde who was featured in some of the other pictures, lying in the bottom of what looked like a grave and she definitely wasn’t alive in this one.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Laura and Carmilla continue to investigate Theo's death

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heres chapter two guys hope you enjoy it. I really appreciate the likes and comments on the first chapter. I will be updating this story at least once a week, I'm hoping to do twice a week but I get distracted really easily so that might no always happen. But you will get at lest one chapter a week while we see where this story goes.

“So what exactly do we know about the death of Mr. Straka here?” Agent Hollis asked gesturing to the skeleton laid out on the table in front of her.

“Well dental records have confirmed that this is in fact Theo Straka first of all.” Dr. Karnstein began, “Although there are some discrepancies between his with what we’ve observed on the bones that I want to take a closer look at.” Agent Hollis nodded, somewhat impatiently for Dr. Karnstein to continue.

“ Insect activity indicates he has been dead around two weeks, Laf ran some samples they collected and the victim was killed somewhere else and then dumped in the woods where it was discovered.” 

“Do they have any clue as to where he was killed then?” Agent Hollis asks

“They found diatomaceous earth but its pretty common stuff. It tells us he wasn’t killed in the woods but narrowing it down any further is up to you unless something else turns up.” 

“Alright, the techs finished combing through Straka’s apartment. They didn’t get much but there was a parking pass for a parking structure downtown, and according to his records he works in a building in that area so lets go check it out.” She turned and bounded down the steps of the forensics platform, Carmilla turned to JP and made sure he knew what to do before she followed Agent Hollis outside.

 

Xxxxx

 

Society. That was the name of the building that Carmilla and Laura were standing outside of. It was an impressively big building, and both ladies stopped to stare up at it for a second before continuing into the building.

Laura walked up to a frazzled looking receptionist with frizzy hair that was sticking out in every direction. She was hunched over a keyboard, typing furiously as Laura approached. 

She flashed a charming smile, “I’m Agent Hollis with the FBI this here is my partner Dr. Karnstein” She held up her badge and then indicated in Carmilla’s direction as she spoke, “we need to speak with whoever runs this place.”

The receptionist hardly moved, casting a quick glance in Laura’s direction before returning to her computer screen, her typing hardly faltering. “Do you have an appointment, Mrs. Callis is extremely busy and she doesn’t take meetings without an appointment.”

“Okay well, I think you missed the part where I said FBI and held up my badge. We don’t need an appointment this is in regards to an ongoing investigation. So how about you just point us in the right direction and we’ll be on our way.” Laura smiled again but it seemed a little forced this time around. Carmilla observed from her spot just a little to the left, noting the change in demeanor when the agent was quickly dismissed.

The receptionist sighed and pointed to an elevator to their right. “Floor 28” was all she said.

Agent Hollis nodded in her direction and strode confidently to the elevator, until she tripped slightly on the doorway. She threw out her hands and grabbed ahold of the railing, casting a quick glance to make sure no one had witnessed that. She thought she was in the clear until she remembered someone had been following her into the elevator.  
Dr. Karnstein stood a few inches away in the corner of the elevator with a small smirk on her face. 

“I was almost impressed there cupcake” Laura groaned internally.

“Really Doc, ‘cupcake’. I’m a federal agent.”

Carmilla gestured down at her ankles were her pants had ridden up and were showing a hint of the socks she had on underneath, which were covered in little cupcakes.

 

They walked into the office labeled CEO and were immediately met by a woman in a power suit.

“Mrs. Callis I’m Agent Hollis of the FBI this is my partner”

“Yeah yeah the doctor I know, my receptionist told me you were on your way up. What can I do for you I’m very busy” Mel Callis interrupted Laura as she made her way over to her desk.

“We have a few questions about one of your employees” Mel nodded for her to continue as she began shuffling through some papers on her desk.

“Theo Straka, what can you tell us about him.” 

Mel’s head whipped up at the mention of Theo’s name, her full attention now on Agent Hollis.

“Straka, what’s he doing that has caught the interest of the FBI?”

“He was murdered” Carmilla answers swiftly

“Oh, well I can’t say I’m too broken up about that. But why are you guys here?” 

“Mr. Straka worked for you, we were hoping you could give us some information about his life that might help us figure out why he was murdered.” Laura answered

“He did work for me, but he quit about six months ago. Didn’t even give me any notice just stopped showing up one day, during our busiest time of the year, and when I called him to see where he was he just said someone had given him a better offer.” Mel huffed, “As if, I mean Theo wasn’t the best person to ever work for me but he got stuff done when I needed him to and I paid him very well.”

“Do you know anything about this better offer he got, as far as we could tell this office was the last place he received a paycheck from.” Laura asked, she was roaming around the office as they spoke, observing what she could.

“Well I did some checking after he left, I assumed he had gone to work for one of my competitors. But as far as I could tell none of them knew who he was.” 

“Anything else you can tell us about him, what was he like when he worked here?” Laura continued to probe

“Look I don’t have time for this, I didn’t know him very well. I think we have a box with some of his personal affects and I’ll have someone give it to you, but I have to get back to work.” 

Mel returned her attention to the papers and her desk and didn’t spare the two women another glance as they shared a look of confusion at being so abruptly dismissed, and then made their way out of the office. 

“Well that wasn’t very helpful.” Carmilla said as they made their way back to the elevators.

“No, but we know more about Theo now.” They walked back to the receptionist’s desk and she shoved a cardboard box with the name Straka scribbled on the side. Laura nodded her thanks but if the receptionist saw it she didn’t respond. Laura grabbed the box and made to turn away when Carmilla spoke up.

“You know if I were you I’d get that carpal tunnel checked out, I’ve worked on some seriously mangled wrists before and it looks like you’re headed in that direction.”

The receptionist froze her typing and looked down at her wrists in shock before glancing at Dr. Karnstein with fear in her eyes. Carmilla smiled and nodded before turning and walking away with Hollis at her heels.

 

Xxxxx

 

Laura mumbled under her breath in frustration as another driver cut into her lane and then promptly slammed on their brakes. She looked over her shoulder attempting to switch lanes only to see that the other lane was backed up as well.

“I have a question” Carmilla spoke up

“No you cannot drive” Laura responded, “I knew I should’ve merged into the other lane earlier” She mumbled under her breath.

“Statistically no one lane is faster, studies have shown that they all even out during the drive. And why can’t I drive I’m an excellent driver.” Carmilla argued.

“For the same reason I said no when we got in the car, this is an FBI vehicle and I’m the FBI agent so I drive.” Laura answered, her tone alluding to the fact that this wasn’t the first time they’d had this discussion.

 

Xxxxx

 

“JP can you bring me the medical records for our victim” Dr. Karnstein called over to her assistant.

“Here you go Dr. K” JP approached holding a file. Dr. Karnstein was inspecting the skeletal remains of the victim, trying to see of there was anything they missed that might give them a clue as to what this man was up to. 

“Can you read out the injuries he sustained to his right arm and hand?”

“A fractured radius at the age of 12 from falling off a bike, and a compound fracture to the humerus at 18 from a car accident. That’s all on the right, I noticed the remodeling of both f those injuries already it was in my report.”

“I know JP, I actually was looking to see if the fractured second metacarpal was noted in his medical record.”

“No it isn’t, I assumed that was an injury suffered perimortem.” 

“If you take a closer look” Carmilla pulled over a magnifying lens “You can see the beginning of remodeling. I’d say this injury occurred two weeks prior to his death.”

“Oh, I should have seen that.”

“Yes you should have. This isn’t the only injury that wasn’t on his medical records, he had a fully healed fracture to hid right tibia and two healed fractures on his left third and fourth manual phalanges.”

“Yeah I noticed those, and they all appear to have occurred within the last year.”  
“I concur JP”

“So what does that mean.” JP asked

“I don’t know, but you should inform Agent Hollis it might be of use to her.”

 

XXXXX

 

“So where exactly are we going?” Carmilla asks as she climbed into the passenger seat of Agent Hollis’ SUV

“Well I interviewed some of our victim’s neighbors and after a while one of them suddenly remembered that Theo’s car wouldn’t start one day a couple months ago and he gave him a ride to work. So we are headed to the place that our friendly neighbor dropped him off at.” 

“Okay, and what are we looking for exactly?” 

“A clue, information on our victims life, maybe even his killer. At the very least maybe you can do some sciency thing and tell me if this is the place our victim was killed.”

“Sciency isn’t a word”

“Sure it is it’s in the dictionary after science and before scientist. It means cool thing that only squints can do.”

“No it really isn’t a word”

“Okay” Laura smiled to herself before turning her attention to the traffic she was merging into.

 

XXXXX

 

They pulled up to the address Laura had written down. It was an elegant looking brick building that looked liked someone incredibly rich once lived there. There were some signs of wear on the old building, vines growing up the side and a few broken windows but for the most part it was in great shape.

“You sure this is the right place” Carmilla asked

“This is the address. According to the property records a man named Vordenburg owns it. The family has owned this estate since it was built, but I’m not sure if anyone actually lives here anymore.”  
“So do we just knock or..” 

“I’m going to circle the building make sure its okay, and after AFTER I clear it you can get out and we’ll check out the interior.” 

“I don’t need to hide out in the car I can help.” Carmilla argued

“I’m the trained Agent Doc. Just wait here until I give you the all clear.” Without waiting for an answer Agent Hollis hopped out of the car. She removed her gun from its holster and made her way carefully around the side of the mansion.

Carmilla stayed seated for a full two minutes before she got out of the car. She scanned the surrounding area before making her way around the corner of the building that Agent Hollis had disappeared around. 

As she turned another corner and came upon the backyard she spotted Agent Hollis checking out what appeared to be an old tool shed. She was about to call out to the agent when she noticed the patio was made out of old red bricks, the kind that used to be made using diatomaceous earth.

She pulled an empty evidence bag out of her back pocket and began scrapping a sample off the brick. Agent Hollis turned around at the sound of scraping, gun poised. She immediately lowered it when she recognized the outline of Dr. Karnstein on the other side of the yard.

“Doc what happened to wait in the car?” Laura whisper yelled as she approached Dr. Karnstein who was standing up and closing the evidence bag in her hand.

“This brick is made with diatomaceous earth, this could be where our victim was killed.” Carmilla explained.

“Really?” Laura’s anger faded as she looked around the patio.

“Now we just have to compare it to the sample at the lab and then..” Carmilla stops speaking and Laura whips around gun raised as they hear a noise near the shed Laura had just walked away from.

Laura indicts that Carmilla should be silent as she makes her way back over to the shed. Some old bins off to the side of the shed quiver slightly as she approaches. She makes her way over to them with her gun raised “FBI come out with your hands up” She calls out.

A person jumps out from behind the bins, scattering them everywhere as they take off in a sprint. 

“Stop FBI!” Agent Hollis yells out as she takes off after the man.   
Carmilla heads to the other side of the house hoping to cut him off when he rounds the front.

She turns the corner right as the man does and they both freeze looking at one another, before he starts sprinting again heading right for her.

Laura comes running around the bend, she’s only a few feet behind the guy and Carmilla tries to think fast to give the Agent a way to catch up.

She steps directly into the runners path, holds up her hand and yells “Stop or I’ll kick you in the testicles”

The man stops, frozen for a moment in utter confusion. Which is all the time Agent Hollis needs, she tackles the man to the ground and uses her knee to hold him in place as she takes out her handcuffs.

She picks the guy up and walks him over to her car. Carmilla follows and opens up the trunk when Laura indicates for her to do so. Laura guides the man to have a seat on the edge of the trunk and then she looks back to Carmilla.

“Stop or I’ll kick you in the testicles. Seriously, that’s the best you could come up with” She said with a teasing smile

“Whatever, it worked didn’t it.” She gestured to the man who was currently sitting with his head held down.

“We need to work on your cop talk Doc” She turned back to the man “So who are you? What are you doing out here?” 

The man didn’t acknowledge her or her questions, but she kept on undeterred.

“Do you work out here? Do you know a man named Theo Straka?”

At the mention of their victims name the mans head shot up in recognition before he once again lowered it, acting like the two women weren’t there.

“So you did know Mr. Straka. Look you ran away from a federal agent, you’re going to jail whether you answer my questions or not. If you are cooperative though we might be able to work out a nice deal. So I’ll ask one more time, how do you know Theo Straka? Did you work with him?”

The man sighed heavily before looking up into Agent Hollis’ face. “I didn’t work with that idiot. I replaced him because he couldn’t do the job properly.”

“What exactly was his job?” Hollis asked

“To do what he was told, and he couldn’t even do that right. The boss wasn’t pleased, especially when he almost let that blonde bitch get away. But I stepped up I took care of him and I was performing well..”

a loud crack had Agent Hollis diving and pulling Dr. Karnstein to the ground. The man in the car wasn’t so lucky as the shot hit him straight in the forehead. Laura stayed on the ground pining Carmilla underneath her body for a full minute, when they didn’t hear any more shots they cautiously sat up and looked at the now dead man sprawled out on the trunk of the SUV.

They both took a step back and Laura pulled out her phone to call it in. she had blood spatter on the side of her shirt and one leg of her pants, but they were both unharmed.

 

XXXXX

 

Laura was perched on the edge of the table in the lab. The man who had been shot had been transferred to the lab and Mattie was about to begin the autopsy in her lab. Carmilla was explaining to Laura that her clothes would have to be entered into evidence.

“Umm okay, just give me a clean shirt and I’ll change so you can have this one.” Laura shrugged; she didn’t understand why she had to be sitting in this room.

“Well I have a clean set of scrubs for you but I’m going to have to collect your clothes so the spatter isn’t smeared. Laf and Perry will be able to tell the angle and distance of the shot if they get the accurate data from all of the blood spatter.”

“Oh” Was Laura said as she realized what Carmilla meant.

Carmilla just nodded and began slowly reaching for Agent Hollis’ jacket, making sure she was okay with what was about to happen. Laura nodded before fixing her gaze on a spot on the wall just above Carmilla’s head.

The jacket was carefully removed and placed on an evidence tray. Then Dr. Karnstein reached over and slowly undid the buttons on Laura’s shirt making sure her gloved hands didn’t touch any of the blood spatter.

Laura willed the down blush she could feel coming up as Carmilla carefully peeled her collared shirt off her shoulders. This was a little mortifying but she’d experienced worse. She had on a sports bra so she wasn’t even that exposed really.

“Okay now I’m going to need to stand up so I can take your pants.” 

“My Pants” Laura squeaked and Carmilla just nodded, they both avoided eye contact.

Carmilla reached over and undid the clasp on Laura’s belt. Smirking at the small cupcake design on the buckle. She sat down on her knees as she tried to gently slide the pants of the agent’s legs without smudging any evidence.

She glanced up at Laura’s face and they made eye contact as Laura was already staring down at Carmilla.

“You can keep the cute socks, they don’t have a blood on them.” She smirked

“Thanks I guess” Laura was trying not to feel exposed as she stood there in her sports bra, boy shorts and cupcake socks. Carmilla was being as respectful as possible keeping her eyes looked on Laura’s face.

Neither of them moved their eyes locked together until Lafontaine walked in to collect the clothes. They both jumped backwards as Laf threw opened the door and then froze at the look of shock on both ladies face.

“Uh hey I’m just here for the uh clothes.” They gestured to the tray that had Agent Hollis’ clothes on it.

“Right yeah her you go Laf, let me know what you figure out.” Laf nodded and cast one last glance at Laura who was hastily pulling on the scrubs Carmilla had brought her, and Carmilla who was avoiding eye contact with them both.

“Sure thing Dr. K” they made their way out of the room.

Laura cleared her throat and Carmilla turned to see her standing there now fully clothed. 

“So I guess the Straka case is closed. Our John Doe with the hole in his head killed him.”

“Yeah guess that’s that then huh.” 

“Well that murder is solved sure, but we clearly have a much bigger case here.”

“You want us to work this case together?” Carmilla asked confused. There weren’t any more bones, she wasn’t needed anymore. 

“Of course I do, we’re partners right? I have a feeling that this case is going to get a lot more complicated before it ends.” 

“Well then I guess we better get to work.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you guys thought about this chapter. I'm going to bring in Sweets for the next chapter but I'm stuck trying decide which Carmilla character would fit that role the best so if you guys have any ideas please let me know.
> 
> Tumblr: @Sarcasticskeleton


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This Chapter is a little bit of a filler, sorry if it is a little slow I needed it to set up the next few chapters.

Carmilla forcibly pressed the backspace button deleting all of the writing she had done over the last two hours, about two paragraphs of nonsense. Her first book had come to her pretty easily but she had been writing this sequel for the past month and she had nothing tangible to show for it. She took a deep breath and shut her laptop, deciding to go and spend some time in the bone room to try and clear her head. 

As she made to stand up from her desk Agent Hollis walked in looking upset.

“Can I help you?” Carmilla asks

“Oh um yeah.” Laura looks up almost seeming surprised to see Carmilla in her own office. 

“The FBI techs and Dr. Lafontaine are scooping through the Vordenburg residence and I wanted to go and question the man that owns the property.”

“Okay lets go. Where does he live?” 

“Well we aren’t allowed to do field work until we talk to the stupid FBI shrink.” Laura huffed

“Wait, why?”

“Because a man was shot and killed right in front of you guys, and your lives were in danger.” A rather tall lanky man in a suit that seemed slightly too big on him had stepped into Carmilla’s office.

“Who the frilly hell are you?” Laura whips around with an intimidating look on her face.

The newcomer immediately takes a step back, even though he is almost literally twice her height.

“I’m Brody Kirsch the FBI assigned me to evaluate you two ladies and make sure you’re clear to go out into the field.” Kirsch had a big smile on his face

“And why would they assign you to evaluate us?” Carmilla asked

“Oh because I’m Dr. Kirsch, I’m a psychologist.” He stuck out his hand In greeting.

Laura stepped over and reluctantly shook his hand, “I’m Agent Hollis, and I appreciate you are just doing your job but there’s no reason to evaluate us we are fine.” 

“I’m sure you are, but I’m still going to have to talk to you and see that for myself before I sign off on you going back into the field.” 

“You’re like 18 years old, I don’t need a kid telling me what I can or can’t do.” Laura replied

“I’m not a kid, I am a trained psychologist. You understand right Dr. Karnstein” Kirsch turned his gaze to Carmilla

“Not really, I am a scientist I deal with facts. You work in conjecture and guesswork psychology isn’t a real science.”

“That’s not, that’s not true. There is plenty of research backing what I do” Kirsch looked a bit like a kicked puppy at Carmilla’s words.

Laura stifled a smile as she looked between the two of them. 

“So as you can see we are fine we don’t need your opinion so how about you just sign those forms or whatever and we can all move on with our lives.” Laura clapped her hands, having agreed on a solution.

“No I actually have to do my job Agent Hollis” Kirsch spoke up but Laura walked over to Carmilla’s desk and helped her gather her things.

“Thanks Kirsch were going to go interview someone for our case but we will see you later.” Laura called over her shoulder as they walked out of Carmilla’s office

“But, but I..” Kirsch trailed off, looking around the office in confusion before sighing and walking out.

 

XXXXX

 

“Thank you for joining us Mr. Vordenburg” Agent Hollis walked into the room and took a seat t the table across from Vordenburg; Carmilla followed and sat down next to her.

“It is no problem at all Agent Hollis, although the phone call I received from your agents didn’t really give me a choice in the matter.” Vordenburg’s smile sent an uneasy feeling down Laura’s spine.

“Yes well this is a federal investigation a man was shot and killed on your property.”

“Ah yes I was informed of that. Unfortunate, unfortunate business but I don’t know why that warrants bringing me here Agent Hollis. I have not been on that property in many years, it has been passed down in my family for generations but I rarely visit you see.”

“What is it you do Mr. Vordenburg” Laura asks choosing not to comment on his previous statement.

“Actually I was a renowned surgeon, so it’s Dr. Vordenburg. So as I’m sure your friend here could verify” Vordenburg gestures at Carmilla, “One does not have much free time when they are in medical school.” 

Carmilla nodded “That’s true, what was your specialty? If you were as good as you claim I would have heard of you and I do not remember ever hearing of you.”

Anger flashed in Vordenburg’s eyes for a fraction of a second before his features settled into a disinterested look as he stared at Carmilla.

“I assure you Dr. Karnstein I was very good, I have however been retired for a few years now.”

“Okay” Laura cut in before Carmilla could respond, “So you haven’t been on the property recently, have you allowed anyone to use the house or hired anyone to work on it?” 

“I have a grounds keeper check on the property maybe once a month to make sure it doesn’t look bad but that’s about it my dear.” 

Laura stiffened at the term of endearment from the old man. “We will need the name of the person or company you employ”

“Of course of course, I will have it sent over to your offices immediately. Now if that is all I must be going.”

Without waiting for an answer he stood, grabbing his cane from where it lay resting on the side of the table and made his way out of the room.

Laura turned to Carmilla, “That guy isn’t telling us everything. He knows more about this than he was letting on.”

“What makes you say that?” Carmilla asks

“Just a gut feeling, something about that guy just rubs me the wrong way.”

“When did he rub you?” Carmilla looks genuinely confused as to how she missed that happening.

“He didn’t actually rub me, it’s just an expression. I meant I just got a weird feeling from him.” 

“Oh I see, so you’re making a judgment not based on any actual evidence, just a feeling.” Carmilla’s tone wasn’t condescending but more disbelief in Laura’s reasoning for such a statement.

“Trust me Doc, sometimes you just gotta go with your gut.” Laura smiled

“I’m sure you believe that but I’m going to stick with looking for evidence. I also want to look up Dr. Vordenburg and his record.” Carmilla stated

“Okay sounds good, but first I’m hungry. How do you feel about pie?” Laura smiled, stood up and extended her hand to Carmilla.

 

XXXXX

 

“So what do you think? Best pie you’ve ever had right?” Laura asked smiling through a mouth full of pie.

“It’s good, I’m not a huge fan of pie though.”

“What? Pie is the best; you probably just haven’t found the perfect flavor yet. But don’t worry we’ll fix that, they have every flavor you could possibly imagine here.”

“Yeah but they also have burgers, and I think I’d rather eat one of those.”

“Aww come on just try one mor..”

“Hey ladies what’s up” Laura is cut off mid sentence as Kirsch walks up to the table they’re seated at.

“You guys like this diner too, what a coincidence I love this place.” Kirsch pulls out the chair next to Carmilla and talks a seat.

“Kirsch tell the Doc here that everyone likes pie she just needs to find the flavor that works for her.”

“I mean pie is delicious, but I would be more interested to know why you are so gung ho for her to like pie.” 

“What? What’s that got to do with anything?” Laura asks

“Psychology, this is why it isn’t a real science.” Carmilla huffed  
“Don’t hate man, psychology is a respectable field.” 

“Yeah, I bet you have some tests that prove that gut feelings are a real thing right.” Laura speaks up, shooting a challenging smile at Carmilla.

“Actually yeah, there have been some really interesting studies done on that.” Kirsch answered seemingly oblivious to the staring match going on between the other two people at the table.

“Psychology is still not based on hard evidence, that doesn’t prove anything Hollis.” Carmilla stands up from the table. “I have to get back to the lab, call me if anything else develops in the case.”

Carmilla makes her way out of the diner; Kirsch and Laura both watch her walk out before turning their gazes back on each other. 

“So, how do you and Dr. Karnstein get along?” Kirsch asks

“Great”

“So no tension or anything?” 

“Why would there be, sure she’s a little rough around the edges but I think I’m slowly cracking down those walls.”

Kirsch smiles, “I meant about the whole shooting thing, but It’s interesting that that’s the first place your mind went.”

Laura flushes a little pink and shakes her head, “No it doesn’t mean anything. This is why nobody likes shrinks.” Her tone is light and Kirsch just chuckles at her words.

 

XXXXX

 

“Hey Perry I need you to look into the professional history of a Dr. Vordenburg for me.” Carmilla called out as she walked into Perry’s office.

“Sure thing sweetie, anything specific you want me to look for?” 

“Well I know he was a surgeon but I don’t know where, and I’d like to know his specialty and his success rate.”

“Okay I’ll see what I can find. Who is this guy, why do you want me to look him up?” Perry had already begun typing into her computer as she asked

“He owns the property Agent Hollis and I were at last week and we just interviewed him this morning.” 

“You still call her Agent Hollis?” Laf pipes up as they walk into the room.

“Yes it’s her name” Carmilla answered not as all surprised to see Lafontaine in Perry’s office.

“Don’t you think a shared near death experience puts you guys on a first name basis?” Lafontaine walks all the way into the office and makes their way over to Perry.

“If she wanted me to call her Laura she would have said so.”

“Leave her alone Laf” Perry spoke up, Laf looked over at Perry with puppy dog eyes  
“You know that doesn’t work on me Laf, and Carmilla honey, they aren’t wrong you don’t need to be so formal I’m sure Laura wouldn’t mind.” 

Carmilla just nods, “Okay let me know if you find anything””

Before she can even turn to walk away Perry’s monitor beeps and a picture of Vordenburg pops up.

“Got it” “Who’s that?” Perry and Lafontaine speak at the same time.

“That” Perry points to the screen “Is Baron Vordenburg, age 65. He was a trauma surgeon for almost thirty years at Styria Regional.”

“Oh wait a minute I’ve heard of this guy” Lafontaine exclaims, “He was known for trying a lot of risky and experimental procedures.”

“Yeah and it looks like they weren’t always successful, there are a lot of complaints about him on here and it looks like his license to practice was suspended more than once.” 

“Okay thanks Perry, can you send this information to Agent Hollis?” 

“Sure thing Sweetie, and think about what we said okay” Carmilla nodded

‘Oh Mattie wants to see you” Lafontaine called out at Carmilla’s retreating form.

 

XXXXX

 

“You wanted to see me Dr. Belmonde” Carmilla strolls into Mattie’s lab.  
“Yes Dr. Karnstein” Mattie smirks, “I’ve finished the autopsy on your John Doe and we should have an ID within the hour.”

Carmilla raised an eyebrow in curiosity

“He had reconstructive surgery on his left knee, I found screws in the femur and tibia that we should be able to trace for an ID on our guy.”

“Okay that’s good thanks. Anything else?”

“Yeah Lafontaine and JP were conducting another experiment this afternoon, they can’t keep doing this they are going to blow up the lab. I tried being nice..”

Carmilla snorts in amusement at the thought of Mattie asking politely, “Charming, make sure they know this is their final warning. Next time they perform an unauthorized experiment there will be consequences.” Mattie has a glint in her eyes as she smiles.

Carmilla smiles, “Sure thing Mattie”

Carmilla runs into Lafontaine as she is making her way back to her office. She stops them and calls them over to her.

“Dial it down on the unnecessary experiments Laf. Mattie is in charge of this place now, you have to at least attempt to listen to her.”

Lafontaine grins, “I don’t know what you’re talking about Dr. Karnstein. All of my experiments are necessary to understand the evidence.”

Carmilla shakes her head, “Well try not to get JP in trouble at least, he is still a replaceable grad student.”

“You wouldn’t replace any of us, you like us it’s okay to admit that.”

“Hey Doc!” Carmilla is saved from answering Lafontaine as Laura walks over grabbing their attention.

“Got a name on our guy, its Will Luce. I’m going to go check out his apartment would you care to join me.”

Lafontaine’s smirk grows even bigger and they mouth the word doc at Carmilla with a raised eyebrow.

 

XXXXX

 

Laura and Carmilla walked up to the door of Will’s apartment. Laura turned to face Carmilla before they could go in.  
“Okay this time you actually need to wait in the hall until I clear the apartment” 

“I can help I’m not useless” 

“I’m not saying you are, you just haven’t been trained”

“Oh come on it can’t actually be that much safer standing in the hallway.”

“Could you just listen to me this one time.”

“Fine” Carmilla steps to the side as Laura unlocks the door. She scans the room before stepping inside with her gun raised.

She makes it all of three steps into the room before a hooded figure bursts put of the closet next to the door. Laura whirls around in surprise, gun poised but the person has already made it through the doorway and out into the hall. She follows him out and just catches a glimpse of his back as he rounds the corner on the far side of the hallway.

Laura re-holsters her gun and reaches her hand out to help Carmilla up who had been knocked down as the man ran past.

“So what was that about me being safer in the hall?” Carmilla asked as she found her footing next to Laura.

“Okay, okay, you can come in with me.” Laura sighed as they made their way back into the apartment.

Laura did a full sweep to make sure no one else was hiding out before they made their way back to the closet the man jumped out of.

“Who do you think he was?” Carmilla asked as Laura looked around the small closet

“I only got a quick glimpse but it looked like a junkie. He was probably hiding out in the empty apartment. I called it in, hopefully he’ll be picked up on the street.”

“So what are we looking for?” Carmilla asks as they resume their walk through the rest of the apartment. 

“Anything that can help us figure out who Will Luce was and how he fits into this case.”

“Okay so it’s like an archaeological survey, uncovering artifacts to determine how the society in question operated.”

“No were just looking for any scrap of information that can tell us what we need to know about his life.”

“That’s what I said” 

“Well we’re looking for evidence from this century, not artifacts.”

“It was an analogy I didn’t mean it literally.”

“Well whatever you wanna call it I think I’ve found something here Doc.”

Carmilla turns around to face Laura who is holding up what looks like a homemade necklace. It resembled the kind of necklace kids would make at a summer camp with string and macaroni noodles. With only one difference, 

“That’s human bone” Carmilla confirms as she carefully takes the necklace from Laura.

“Any chance it belongs to Theo?” Laura asked, although she had a sinking feeling that she already knew the answer.

“No these are different Carpal bones from a human wrist, and Theo wasn’t missing any carpals.”

“Great so this guy killed someone else besides Theo Straka, and then the psycho strung up their wrist bones and wore them around his neck.”

“Well I can’t confirm that Will Luce killed anyone else based solely on this, but I can tell you that there are two right scaphoids here.”

“What does that mean?”

“These bones came from more than one person”

“Oh Shit”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay guys, but heres the new chapter. hope it is worth the wait.

“The soil quality of this region is exceptionally poor for bone preservation. As you can see from these pictures here there wasn’t a lot of skeletal elements left, and those that did survive were extremely fragile.” 

Carmilla took a sip from the water bottle sitting on the podium before she continued, “We were able to establish an MNI of four whilst on site and the remains were transported back to the Silas institute where we are working on discerning everything we can about the individuals. Any questions?”

A man sitting in the front row cleared his throat and made a small motion with his hand to draw Carmilla’s attention to him.  
“Dr. Karnstein if the bones were in as poor of a condition as you say, then how were you able to accurately asses the minimum number of individuals in the grave site?” he had a smug smile on his face as he finished the question, believing he had pointed out a flaw in her work.

Carmilla smirked, “Well while most of the bones were degraded as I said, the petrous portion of the temporals are very dense portions of bone that tend to survive. I was able to side the segments I found and it gave us an MNI of at least four individuals.” 

There a few murmurs in the crowd at Carmilla’s explanation. “Any other questions?” Carmilla was still looking at the man in the front row when another voice spoke up, a voice that sounded very familiar.

“Yeah I have a question” Carmilla looked up to see Agent Hollis strolling down the aisle towards the stage. “Did any of these four individuals die recently?” Laura asked

“No these remains are from the 1500’s” Carmilla responded staring directly at Laura with a questioning gaze.

Laura smiled as she reached the edge of the stage Carmilla was standing on, “Well then, I have a much more pressing case for you Doc come on.” Laura beckoned for Carmilla to follow as she turned and began to retrace her steps to the door of the auditorium.

XXXXX

 

“She can’t just waltz in and demand my presence whenever she pleases” Carmilla all but growled at Mattie. “I was in the middle of securing funds for a return trip to the Mayan ruins to continue the research I started this summer.”

Mattie rolled her eyes at Carmilla’s argument “Oh please you already had the funding secured, you were just trying to rub it in Dr. Russell’s face. Not that I blame you that man is an arrogant bastard”

“That’s not the point Mattie and you know it.”

Mattie sighed, “We’ve been over this Carmilla, working with the FBI gives us good press and helps us secure funding.”

Laura knocks on the door and sticks her head in “Come on Doc the scene is waiting” She smiles at the two ladies in the room and pulls her head back into the hallway.

Carmilla sighs deeply and begins to stand up. Mattie smirks and says good luck as Carmilla exits the room.

 

XXXXX

 

“So what’s the scene we’re heading to?” Carmilla asks 

Laura glances over at her before returning her focus to the road ahead “It’s actually in the forest not too far from where we found Theo Straka.” 

“Oh is there any relation to the Luce case?” Carmilla asks 

“We don’t know yet, locals found the body and called in the FBI and then I called you.” 

“Yeah you could of actually called you know” Carmilla mumbled

Laura laughed, “Yeah but this was more fun, and I got to listen to some of your talk that was pretty interesting.”

Carmilla didn’t respond choosing to stare out the window instead, but Laura could still make out the hint of a smile on her face at her words.

 

XXXXX

 

Laura and Carmilla hopped out of the car and were met by the same officer that had been present at the first scene and what looked like another FBI agent. 

“Hello Agent Hollis, Dr. Karnstein” The officer greeted. 

Laura returned his greeting as the officer lead them towards the scene. “We had a few officers out here with cadaver dogs searching around the area where we found that guy a couple weeks ago. The dogs found a spot that seems to be a burial of some kind.”

“Why did I have to be at this scene? Do we know if it’s connected to the other body found here?” Carmilla asked.

The other FBI agent spoke up for the first time, “No we don’t know anything yet. I called Agent Hollis here when this case came up and she insisted I call you in, said you’re the best.”

“Did she?” Carmilla asked, turning to Laura with an eyebrow raised in a silent question.   
The question went unanswered as the officer spoke up, oblivious to the conversation going on. 

“I made sure no one touched anything until you could get here Dr. Karnstein.” The officer turned to Carmilla with a proud smile on his face as they reached the actual scene.

“As you should” Carmilla says as she walks past the officer to the marked off scene

“She meant thanks Officer” Laura smiled sweetly at the dejected looking officer before following Carmilla.

There were crime scene techs taking pictures and Carmilla was kneeling near the burial as Laura walked up behind her and took a look. It looked like a jumbled mess to her but Carmilla seemed to know what she was looking at.

“Something about the decomp of this body and the surrounding soil doesn’t look right.” Carmilla said turning to look up at Laura

“Okay, what does that mean?”

“I’m not entirely sure.” Carmilla stood up and took out her phone and typed something for a few seconds before she turned and fixed her gaze on Laura. 

“This is going to have to all come back to the lab, the entire burial. I texted JP to have the lab ready.” 

Laura smiled, “I had a feeling you would say that.” She turned to the techs “You heard the lady, bring the forest back to the lab.” Laura turned back to Carmilla with a laugh and Carmilla rolled her eyes at the agent as they made their way back to the car.

 

XXXXX  
Carmilla walked onto the lab platform where Lafontaine, JP, and Perry were standing.   
“JP when the remains get here I’m going to perform the initial examination and then I would like you to assist Laf in collecting particulates. After Mattie gets whatever samples she needs go ahead and clean the bones, then let me know when they are ready.”

JP nodded and Carmilla turned to Laf and Perry. “Laf do whatever it is you do and see if you can get me time of death for each person. Perry we’ll need facial reconstructions as soon as possible.”

“Sure thing sweetie, but I thought it was only one victim.”

“No the techs on the scene discovered two more bodies as they dug out the first burial, which would explain the strange decomposition rates I saw.”

As Carmilla finished speaking Laura walked in the building quickly followed by a team of agents pushing in three separate gurneys with remains on them and a fourth that piled high with what looked like Tupperware containers of dirt.

Each container was labeled with a depth at which the soil it contained had been found. Lafontaine dove right in grabbing as many containers as they could carry and heading off towards their office only to reemerge seconds later and grab some more.

The techs deposited the remains in the middle of the lab platform and then made their way out of the building. Carmilla began her initial examination while Perry grabbed her camera and began taking pictures. 

They didn’t notice Agent Hollis was still standing at the edge of the platform until Perry happened to glance up. Laura gestures to the platform in a silent question and Perry nods before walking over and swiping her security badge so Laura could walk up without setting off the platforms alarm.

Carmilla looked up as Laura approached the table she was working at. “Oh Agent Hollis sorry I didn’t realize you were still here.”

“Its okay I just wanted to let you guys know we had some agents canvasing the area around the forest we found the bodies in, to see if any of the locals have noticed anything odd recently. We didn’t get much but one lady remembered seeing an unfamiliar red truck in the area multiple times over the last few months.”

“Wait didn’t Theo Straka own a red truck?” Carmilla asked

“Yeah, so it looks like Mr. Straka might have visited this area multiple times before he was buried there.” Laura answered.

“Okay. Well all I can tell you about these three” Carmilla gestures to the remains “Is that they are all female and were roughly the same age late twenties. Perry should have faces for you to run in a few hours.”

“Sounds good Doc, I have a feeling these bodies are definitely linked with our case.”

“There’s no evidence to definitively prove that right now.”

“I have faith that you’ll find whatever it is we need Doc.” Laura smiles and makes her way off the platform and towards the doors.

As soon as Laura is out the door Perry turns to Carmilla. “Care to explain what that was?” Perry asked

“I don’t know what you’re referring to.” Carmilla responds indifferently turning her attention back to the bones.

“The flirting there from ‘Agent Hollis’” Perry responds getting directly to the point, she knows by now it’s the only way to speak with Carmilla.

“I don’t believe there was any flirting, merely two colleagues discussing a case. I think you’re spending too much time with Laf Perry.”

“That might be true” Perry concedes, “But..”

“But she’s hot, and available and so are you go for it.” Laf appears behind Perry cutting her off and adding to her argument.

“Look guys” Carmilla begins turning her attention away from the bones and toward the pair, “Neither of us has the time or inclination for emotional complications. I assure you our relationship is purely platonic.” She turns back to the bones

“For now” one of the two mutters Carmilla isn’t sure which, as they make their way off the platform and then towards their respective offices.

 

XXXXX

A few hours later Carmilla was in her office on the phone with Laura. 

“So far we have confirmed the age range of all three victims, mid to late twenties. Also cause of death was pretty apparent, blunt force trauma is evident on the skulls of all three Jane doe’s. The fracture patterns indicate that the instrument used on each of the girls could have potentially been the same, JP is mapping each injury out now to try and confirm.”

“Okay is Perry done with the facial reconstructions?” Laura asks

“I believe so I’m going to check with her now and if she is we will send over the information on all three Jane Doe’s including pictures and the indicators we found in the bones that might help confirm a match. Jane doe number two has metatarsal indicators that show that she was most likely a dancer for quit some time.”

“That sounds good, I will let you know as soon as we get a hit then.”

“Alright, um see ya”

“Yeah sounds good.” Laura hangs up the phone with a laugh and Carmilla slams hers down with a sigh before standing up from her desk and heading over to Perry’s office. 

As she is walking over she hears JP up on the platform. “Dr. K you need to see this.”

She turns and makes her way over to JP on the forensic platform.   
“What did you find?” She asks once she arrives

“I was looking over the metacarpal injuries that you pointed out to me earlier when I noticed some missing carpal bones.” JP begins, “I didn’t think much of it because you know those tend to get lost all the time due to scavenging or whatever” Carmilla nods, she has a sinking feeling she knows where this is going.  
“So anyways I was going over the metacarpals again when I realized that the carpals on each Jane Doe that were missing were from the right wrist, all of them. So I decided to compare the missing carpals on our victims with the um ones you found in Will Luce’s apartment and they’re a match.”

“Are you positive JP?” 

“Laf is running isotope analyses to make sure, but I am fairly certain.”

“Good work JP I will let Agent Hollis know immediately.”

Carmilla leaves the platform and continues her original walk to Perry’s office.

“Perry have you finished the facial reconstructions?”

“Yeah I just finished them here.” Perry hits a few buttons on her tablet and pulls up three images on the big screen across from them.

“Can you enlarge the middle picture?” Carmilla asks taking a step closer to the screen.

Perry nods and enlarges the image having it take up the entire screen.

“Can you make the supraorbital margin a little sharper, and shorten the hair.”

Perry makes the adjustments and Carmilla nods. “I’m pretty sure this is the same girl that was in the picture we found in Theo Straka’s apartment.”

“So the cases are connected then.” 

“It would appear so. Have these images along with our initial reports sent to the FBI.”

“Sure thing sweetie. Laura better catch the monster behind all of this.”

Carmilla nodded and then made her way back to her own office to call Laura and inform her of all the new developments. 

 

XXXXX

Perry and Laf walk into Carmilla’s office to find her sitting at her desk fidgeting with a skull model.

“What’s up Doc?” Laf asks with a smile. Carmilla doesn’t respond, just glancing up before returning her focus to her hands.

“What’s wrong sweetie?” Perry asks

“Nothing. What’s up do you guys need something?”

“Yeah Per here got a hit on two of the girls and I have time of death for all three.”

“Yeah I heard we identified two, Mattie just told me her toxin screens came back and Laura is on her way were going to see the victims families.” 

“Oh Laf sweetie, why don’t you write down your findings for Carmilla to read.”

“Uh sure thing Per” Laf looks a little confused but makes their way out of the room.

“Alright spill what’s wrong Karnstein.” Perry sits down across from Carmilla

“I can’t go talk to these families Per, I don’t work well with the living I can’t connect to them like I do the dead. What am I supposed to say to these people?”

“Oh sweetie you can connect with people just fine, I think your problem is you connect too much to the victims. You are able to understand them like no one else.”

“But I can’t do that with the living. Like look at Jane Doe two, her name was Sarah Jane. She was depressed her tox screen showed high levels of antidepressants, she probably had trouble getting up in the mornings. But when some monster tried to take her life she fought back. She has stress fractures on most of her metacarpals showing she fought hard for her life, even though she was depressed.”

“You could tell the family that” Both women in the office turned to look at the door where Agent Hollis was standing. 

“That sounds to me like the kind of thing they would want to know. But you don’t have to come with me if you don’t want to, I can bring Kirsch.”

“No I’m good lets go.” Carmilla stands up and Perry squeezes her hand for comfort before they all exit the office.

 

XXXXX

 

“Can I ask you a question?” Laura asks once they are in the car 

“Sure.”

“Do you not like working these cases? If you’d prefer us to find someone else I can, I mean I’m sure they wont be as good as you I’m sure, but you can get back to your research.”

“I don’t not like it. I mean don’t get me wrong seeing the terrible things people are capable of doing to other people isn’t my favourite part of the job, but that happens in the ancient cases too. And besides I went into this field for a reason.”

“Yeah, what’s that?”

“To tell people’s stories. Sure I normally work with ancient remains telling the story of lives that time and people have forgotten, but this might be more important. We are all born unique and shaped by our experiences. Murderers try to strip that away, make you invisible when viewed along with the rest of the world. I give them a face, I say their names out loud, I return what those murderers take away. And then you get them the justice they are deserved.”

“Well sounds to me like we make a pretty good team then partner.” Laura smiles over at Carmilla

“Oh yeah that reminds me” Carmilla reaches into her pocket pulls out a card and hands it to Laura.

Laura turns it over looking at the small picture of herself in the corner of the card before she realizes what it is and turns to Carmilla with a wide smile.

“Is this my own security badge for the lab?” Laura asks almost giddily

“Yeah you’re going to need it Partner.” Carmilla smiles back at Laura until Laura turns her attention back to the road.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all your likes and comments. I'm so glad you guys like this story!


End file.
